


First Lines

by onceandfuturekiki



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-05-29 08:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6368194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceandfuturekiki/pseuds/onceandfuturekiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of short Vaxleth stories written for my First Line Prompt-a-Thon, where people send in first lines for stories. All stories originally posted to Tumblr, polished, and reposted here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Burning

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from thequeenofthehobbits: On nights like these the handprint on his back almost felt like it was burning, an ever present reminder..

On nights like these the handprint on his back almost felt like it was burning, an ever present reminder to Vax of how many times she had saved him, and all the nights like this that they’d been able to have together because of it. Her hand never failed to find the scar, running up his back as they moved together, fitting her fingers and palm into their rightful place. More often than not her other hand would be joined with one of his, fingers laced together and grasping desperately, or tangled in his hair, pulling his head back so she could look into his eyes as she whispered his name.

Vax watched Keyleth as she slept, his hand running up and down her back at a slow, lazy pace. She was on her stomach with the blanket slung low around her waist, one hand under the pillow and the other grasping his wrist where his fingers were playing absent-mindedly with her hair. Her pale skin glowed in the moonlight, nearly as perfect as porcelain were it not for the few faint scars spread across the expanse. His fingers swept over each one, remembering exactly when and how she got them, and the sharp pain he had felt witnessing each moment. There would always be a guilt settled in his chest over the fact that his body was littered with so many more scars, so many more moments where _she_ had felt that pain and fear.

He remembered the first night they had been together like this, after they had returned to Whitestone from closing the portal in Pyrah. He remembered Keyleth knocking on his door, telling him she didn’t want to waste her life being afraid, and that she didn’t want to waste any more time. His hands had shaken with disbelief and nerves as he’d touched her, and she’d trembled under his touch, as he had hers, their eyes locking in awe of what was happening, matching gasps leaving their throats at the sensation of their joining. That was the first time her hand had found the scar between his shoulder blades, fitting where it belonged and pressing down into it as he sighed her name, a silent promise in her touch.

Brushing her hair over her shoulder, Vax pressed a long kiss to the back of her neck. She stirred, smiling, her eyes still closed, and turned over just enough to bring her hand to his face. Her eyes opened as he moved with her, looming over her while supporting himself on his elbow, his other arm wrapping around her waist, the hand stroking the soft skin of her back. “Mmmm…” she hummed, running her fingers over his jaw and bringing her other hand up to frame his face as she moved further into his embrace.

“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he said, placing a lingering kiss to her forehead.

“Liar,” she replied, smiling widely as she met his eyes. They gazed at each other for a long moment, and Vax thanked whatever gods were listening for this moment, and all the moments like it that they’d been able to have together, and for the fact that they’d been able to wrest so much more happiness than he’d ever thought he could have.

Keyleth moved one of her hands down his neck, down his chest, then around to his back, moving up until she found the scar, her handprint, from when she’d burned off the Clasp symbol, saving him from himself as she had before and as she had so many times since. It marked him as hers, and she matched her hand together with its twin on his back, pressing into it, pulling him down toward her as she leaned up, seeking out his lips. Vax leaned in toward her, stopping just before their lips met to look into her eyes. She gazed back up at him, and he found himself amazed, as he always was, that after so long together he still felt the same way as he did their first night together, looking down at her, unable to believe how lucky he was. He felt Keyleth’s breath leave her, floating across his skin as her gaze softened, mirroring his own. Finally, he closed the space between them and their lips met as he continued to pull her closer, moving over her fully, the feeling of her hand searing into his skin as it had the night they had met with the Clasp, as it had their first night together, as it had every night they had spent together since, and as it would every night they would have together in the future.


	2. Bravery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: "Walking away from your problems doesn't make them go away completely, you know that right?"

“Walking away from your problems doesn’t make them go away completely, you know that right?”

Keyleth jumped at the sound of Vex’s voice behind her. She’d always been stealthy, but she had clearly been learning a lot from her brother lately.

“Vex! You startled me!”

Vex just continued to stare at her, her gaze hard and unwavering. The fire Keyleth was sitting by, in Scanlan’s creepy and enormous magical mansion, was suddenly now far too hot, and she stood, putting distance between herself and both the fireplace and the other half-elf.

“I, uh…” she started, knowing that she already sounded unconvincing. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on, Keyleth. Are you really trying to bullshit me?” Vex replied, rolling her eyes. “Vax told me about what you said the other night, back in Whitestone. About finishing your AraMente and becoming headmaster.”

“Well, if that’s what you’re talking about, then really Vax was the one who was walking away.”

“Keyleth-“

“You don’t understand, Vex!” Keyleth burst out, the emotions she’d been trying to shove down for the past few days bubbling over. “You have no idea what’s going on with me and Vax, and you have no idea what’s going on with me!”

She could see how stunned Vex was. It wasn’t often that Keyleth became so openly angry and upset, and she knew that Vex was smart enough to know that if it was happening, then things weren’t good.

“Sit down, Keyleth,” Vex said, her voice soft.

“I really don’t feel like-“

“Please,” she said, her voice soft and pleading. “Just sit down.”

Keyleth wanted to storm out of the room, but there was something about the gentle way that Vex was talking to her that took her off guard. She dropped to the couch, and after a moment’s hesitation Vex came to sit next to her.

“I know I was… not exactly kind when I realized that Vax had… feelings for you. I admit, I was scared of losing him. And then I was angry with you because it felt like you were leading him on. I’m sorry for that. I thought you were just being selfish. I didn’t realize how much you had to think about and what it would all really mean to you.”

It took Keyleth a long time to say anything. Vex being so open and honest with her was not something that was exactly common, and she was so stunned it took her a moment to formulate a response. “It’s okay,” she finally said, her words slow and deliberate. “I understand. I really do.”

Vex nodded, her brow furrowing as she stared at the floor. “Vax… is hurting,” she said carefully. “I know there are a lot of reasons for that, and most of them I can’t do a damn thing about. But… this is something I can fix.” Finally, she looked up at Keyleth, her expression determined.

“Vex,” Keyleth sighed. “This isn’t something that can be fixed.”

“So what, you’re just going to torture yourself for the rest of your life, loving him but not letting yourself be with him? Don’t think that’s going to hurt?”

“I know it will hurt. It  _does_  hurt,” she said, tears springing into her eyes. “But in the long run it will hurt less than being with him and having to watch him die.”

“Do you really think that?”

“I watched my father as I was growing up. He loved my mother so much. I don’t remember much about her. She left when I was very young. But the things I do remember…” Keyleth trailed of, a lump in her throat developing as she thought of her mother, of the few memories she had of her. “A lot of it is her and my dad. Together. Happy. I remember how in love they were. Even when I was a little kid, I knew. And then she was gone. I saw him, every day while I was growing up, every day that passed another day that she didn’t return, making the chances of her coming back at all smaller and smaller. I watched his heart break more and more every day. I watched as that grief became a permanent part of him that will never go away.”

Vex sighed, a long, weary sound coming from deep within her. “You and Vax are perfect for each other, you know that? You’re both idiots.”

Her outburst earned a disbelieving look from Keyleth. “What are you-?”

“You two are impossible. You’re sitting down here being utterly selfish, and he’s sitting up there being endlessly selfless.”

“Selfish?” Keyleth asked in a small voice, drawing in on herself.

“Yes. Selfish. And… and cowardly! You’re so scared of pain, of an experience that _everyone_  has that you decided you’re just going to close yourself off, not considering the people who love you. And Vax, that stupid, self-sacrificing idiot, hates the idea of you being in pain so much that he’s letting you do this to the both of you because he thinks that it would be his fault if his death caused you pain!” Vex was shouting now, completely fed up with Keyleth and her brother. “You two are so in love, you’d think that you’d actually understand something about it.”

Her rant had sent her pacing across the room, and when she finally finished she took a breath, looking down at Keyleth, expecting an angry retort. What she found instead was the druid’s head hanging low, her shoulders shaking, the sound of sniffles coming from behind the curtain of hair. Vex sighed, waffling between feeling annoyed and feeling guilty. She forgot, sometimes, that Keyleth was sensitive and relatively inexperienced.

Sitting down beside Keyleth, Vax tried to catch her eye. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you’re right,” she responded, her voice shaking, hiccupping around a sob. “I am being selfish. I just… I don’t know how to do this.”

Vex felt herself softening and moved closer, taking Keyleth’s hands in hers. She’d gone through such an enormous loss when she and Vax had learned of their mother’s death. Sometimes she forgot that not everyone had the same experience she and her brother did. “I think that… the pain of losing someone is such an abstract thing for you that you just don’t understand how… well, honestly, how completely nonsensical your decision is. I know you lost your mother, but you were so young that you barely even remember her, and you didn’t register that pain. When you think about it, you think about your father’s pain, not your own.”

Still sniffling, her head down as though she was trying to hide her tears, Keyleth simply nodded.

“I uh…” Vex started, preparing to share something with Keyleth that she hadn’t shared with  _anyone_  other than her brother. “I know what it is to lose someone. And I am telling you right now that everything you’re thinking is wrong. When Vax and I lost our mother…” she trailed off, her voice catching in her throat as she felt the tears stinging behind her eyes, her breath coming faster. “We weren’t with her. We were so far away. We didn’t know about it until after it happened. And I assure you, it didn’t hurt any less than it would have had we been with her the entire time.” Her voice broke at the end, and she couldn’t stop a few tears from falling.

“Oh, Vex,” she heard Keyleth say, before feeling two long, thin arms close around her. Vex froze for a moment, unsure what to do with this unexpected show of physical comfort. She didn’t really  _hug_  people, other than her brother. At least not in any serious kind of way. Hell, she was more comfortable kissing people than she was hugging them. Hugging meant a closeness, an intimacy she only felt comfortable having with a few people.

After a long moment, she realized she felt comfortable having it with Keyleth. Slowly, she brought her arms up to close around her, returning the hug.

“It’s different, though,” Keyleth eventually said, still holding on to Vex. “That was your mother-“

“It’s not,” Vex cut her off, pulling back to look into her eyes, trying to convey how important this was. “You love Vax.”

It wasn’t a question, but Keyleth answered, without hesitation, “Yes.”

“Earlier tonight, when he closed the rift. When he jumped right toward it, into that lava, not knowing for sure that it would work, knowing that he was going to get hurt either way, and that he could very possibly get dead.”

“What about it?” the other woman asked, shifting uncomfortably.

“I saw you. I looked at you for just a second, just after he hit the lava, and I saw it. I saw how scared you were. I saw that pain.”

Vex gripped Keyleth’s upper arms hard, making sure she had all of the druid’s attention. “You love him. It doesn’t matter if you’re together or not. The damage is already done.”  

“I know,” Keyleth whispered after a long moment of silence. “But I’m still scared.”

“I know,” Vex echoed. “That’s why it’s called bravery. You don’t get to say you’re being brave if you aren’t scared. So go up there, talk to Vax and be brave.”

Keyleth looked at her then, eyes scanning her face, then broke into a small smile as she leaned in and hugged Vex again.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t do it for you,” Vex said, her weak tone and the way she hugged Keyleth back tightly undermining her words. “You two have just been so annoying, I couldn’t stand it any longer.”

Keyleth’s giggle rang in her ear before she pulled back. Vex looked at Keyleth, who was squaring her shoulders in a way that Vex would describe as adorable if she used words like that for anyone other than Trinket. “Okay,” Keyleth said, “Here I go.”

Then she took off toward the stairs, turning to smile at Vex for just a moment before leaving, the sound of her feet hitting the stairs as she excitedly bounded up toward Vax’s room.

Vex smiled, content, as she sat next to the fire, staring at the flames. She thought of her mother, remembering that sharp, blinding pain she’d felt when one of the villagers – she couldn’t for the life of her remember which one – had told them that she was dead. For a moment she wondered if maybe she had done the wrong thing, if maybe Keyleth and Vax were actually right. But even sitting there in a front of the fire she found herself, as she often did, wishing that she’d been able to have even just one more day with her mother, or even one more hour, and as she thought of how much more it hurt knowing that there was time they could have had together that they never did, Vex knew she had done the right thing for her brother and Keyleth.


	3. Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: It had been a long day, but they were safe now.

It had been a long day, but they were safe now. Keyleth was still slightly suspicious of Scanlan’s weird, magical mansion, but the fatigue was starting to settle in, seeping into her bones and she had yet to find a single thing to make her think that they weren’t safe and sound. So she had made her way upstairs to find a room for herself, peeking in each door that would open to see what the rooms were like. They all seemed to be pretty much the same, with small differences here and there, all far larger than any bedroom she’d ever seen.

As she pulled her head out of one of the rooms and closed the door, Keyleth heard light footsteps behind her, and turned around to find Vax, standing at the top of the stairs, watching her. She felt frozen in the spot by his intense gaze, feeling it in her stomach, her chest, all the way down to her toes. Her eyes went to his arms where only the slightest hint of the burns he’d experienced remained. Swallowing hard at the memory the sight sparked, Keyleth tried to remember her father’s words from earlier in the night.  _It’s those moments of darkness that define the joy of the world around them… push forward_ …

She wanted to run to Vax and throw her arms around him. She wanted to kiss him, to pull him into one of the rooms and hold him close as they fell asleep. She wanted to heed her father’s words and move forward.

But she couldn’t. She was rooted to the spot by his gaze, filled with so much pain and longing and hope. No matter how much she wanted to push past the fear, she had no idea how to do that.

Finally, Vax broke the gaze, his head turning away from her quickly, and walked straight into the room in front of him, the door closing with a definitive *thud* behind him.

Keyleth let out a shaky breath and opened the door in front of her, no longer caring which room she spent the night in.

She was already inside her own head before Cerkonos had even left the room, trying to remember where she’d heard the name ‘Ryshan’ before, so she was startled when he turned around, standing in the doorway, and cleared his throat.

“There is a young man asleep outside of your door,” he said, his voice quiet.

Confused, Keyleth met him at the doorway, following his eyes to the floor where Vax sat, his knees pulled up to his chest, his head resting back against the wall. Her heart ached at the exhaustion that covered his face, the way it seemed to be weighing down his whole body, even in sleep.

“I’ll take care of him,” she whispered, moving to kneel in front of him. She saw, from the corner of her eye, Cerkonos nod before he turned and walked down the hallway.

Keyleth waited until she could no longer see him before touching Vax, her hands running over his arms before moving to his face. “Vax,” she said gently. That was all it took for him to start awake, clearly having not been in a very deep sleep. He looked around for a moment, confused, before his eyes settled on her.

“Kiki?”

“Hey,” she said, keeping her voice quiet and gentle. “Come on, come inside.”

His hands flew up to grip desperately at her wrists, hard enough to be uncomfortable. “I had a dream.”

“O-okay,” Keyleth responded, confused. “Come inside and you can tell me about it.”

He stared at her for a long moment, his eyes as desperate as his grip, and she felt worry creeping up from her stomach and into her chest. She kept her eyes on his, even as he stared back, intense and despondent. Finally, after a far-too-long moment, he lowered his gaze, nodding.

Sliding an arm around his waist, she helped Vax stand, guiding him into the bedroom. His steps were heavy as she led him to the bed, as though he was drunk. As she let go of him so he could sit on the bed, she looked him over, considering the possibility that he might actually be intoxicated. But she could see in his eyes that wasn’t the problem. She’d experienced drunk Vax. Even at his most depressed, it wasn’t like this.

The worry started to claw from her chest up into her throat as she closed the door, making her hands shake and her stomach turn. She took a moment, facing away from him, to take a deep breath, steadying herself. When she turned around he was sitting at the end of her bed, hunched over, his eyes tired but frantic.

“You had a dream?” Keyleth prompted as she sat down next to him, close, hoping having her near would calm him.

Vax only nodded, his eyes staring ahead, like he was looking at something far away.

“Vax?” she said, her voice soft and cautious, taking one of his hands between hers. At the touch, he started to move, slowly, like he was made of molasses. He turned, his free hand sliding along her waist and his head moving to her shoulder, pressing his face into her neck. Releasing his hand, she brought her arms around him, one at his back and the other holding his head to her shoulder, her fingers in his hair.

“I feel like… I’m not really here. Like I’m being pulled away,” he confessed into the skin of her neck, his voice broken and weak.

“You haven’t slept. You’re exhausted,” she replied, pressing a kiss into his hair.

“No. That’s not…” he trailed off, as though he couldn’t find the words he needed. “I don’t…”

“Come on,” Keyleth said, pulling him back on the bed toward the pillows. He sluggishly moved along with her, trying to pull himself back with shaking limbs. As she pulled the covers over their bodies, Vax pulled her to him desperately, his arms wrapping around her and his palms flattening against her back. Her arms wound back around him, a hand returning to his hair as he buried his face under her chin, as though he didn’t want her to see his eyes.

He shook all over, and Keyleth knew it wasn’t in any kind of a good way. It wasn’t like the night they had spent together at the Keep, when simply having her in his arms, her own arms holding him close, had him trembling. The worry that had filled her entire body started to turn into fear. “Try to sleep,” she whispered to him, hoping that there was nothing in her voice that gave away how scared she was for him.

His head shook frantically below her chin, against her neck. “I can’t. That’s when she… she wants to take me.”

“Who?” Keyleth asked, certain that the slight quake in her voice showing her growing panic.

“The Raven Queen.” His whisper was so quiet that had it not been for the feeling of his breath against the skin of her neck, she would have wondered if she was hearing things.

The fear and panic fully bloomed in her chest and she pulled Vax tighter to her. “I don’t understand.” She pulled back then, just far enough to see Vax’s face. He lifted his head slightly, but still didn’t look her in the eye, his pained, foggy gaze focused at a spot on her throat. “If she wanted you dead why didn’t she just take you then? Why would she wait?”

“I… I don’t think she wants me dead.”

Tears prickled behind her eyes. “Then what does she want?”

Finally, he looked up at her, his frightened, lost gaze meeting her own. “I don’t know. I just know… she wants me, and I can feel her pulling at me, pulling me away. I don’t… I don’t feel like I’m really here anymore, and-“

“No!” Keyleth burst out, cutting him off as her hands gripped his face. “You  _are_  here. You’re here with me.” She pressed her body into his, one hand releasing its hold on his face and sliding under his arm to move up his back so she could press into the scar there. “I am  _not_  letting you go.”

She hadn’t thought that anything would scare her more than the idea of loving Vax and losing him. That was a fear that had been tormenting her since her kissed her in Anders’ study, that had been paralyzing her and keeping her from being as close to him as she wanted to be. This, though, this incredibly present and visceral fear of him being taken away from him, not an abstract idea but an actual reality, shook her to her core. Rather than wanting to let go to spare her heart, she found herself desperate to keep him with her, to hold on as tight as she could, to fight anything that wanted to take him from her.

“Kiki-“ Vax started, voice shaking and hollow.

“No. She can’t have you. You’re mine. You gave yourself to me before you ever made that deal with her.” Keyleth was crying now, her words and movements frantic as she tried to pull him even closer, tangling their legs together. She brought her hands to his arms, pulling on them in an effort to tighten their hold on her. “Just… hold me. Feel me, here with you.” As Vax did as he was told, his arms tightening around her, bringing her closer. She brought her hands back to his face, holding his cheeks, stroking his jaw, making sure his eyes were on hers. “You’re here. You’re with me.”

She kissed him, softly at first, and then more aggressive, as she tried to coax his lips to respond, but she only felt the slightest pressure in return.

“I love you,” she breathed out, their lips only centimeters apart. “I love you. Just… concentrate on that. Concentrate on how I feel, what it feels like to hold me. Feel me here, with you, loving you. This is where you are. This is where you’re supposed to be. Stay with me, Vax. Stay with me.”

This time when she kissed him, his response was eager.

She knew now that there was no way to escape the pain. However far away from him she was, it wouldn’t change the agony of losing him. That fear was still palpable, but faced with it in a way she hadn’t expected, she refused to let her fear be the thing that caused him to be lost to her. Not if she could keep him with her.

Keyleth pressed against him, opening her mouth to him when his tongue ran along her upper lip. Their kisses were frantic and desperate, and with every clench of his hands in her hair, in her nightgown, with every swipe of his tongue over hers, with every gasp he breathed into her mouth, she could feel Vax coming back to himself.

When she looked into his eyes as she pulled away for air, they were almost clear. There was still fear there, still a bit of confusion, but the foggy, lost look was gone. “Are you here with me?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Vax said, his thumb stroking along her cheek as he used their tangled legs to pull himself closer to her. “I’m here.”

Her hand went back to the scar on his back, where she fit her fingers and her palm into their match, and she kissed him again, a brief brush of lips. “She doesn’t get to take you from me. Not yet. I might not be able to keep you from dying, but I refuse to let  _this_ happen. You’re mine. And I’m yours. Nobody gets to take us from each other.”

Vax’s eyes were clear as he looked at her, but still sad and unconvinced. “I wish it were as easy as that.”

“It  _is_ ,” Keyleth insisted. “You just have to remember where you are, and where you belong. And that’s here. With me.”

The look of doubt didn’t leave his eyes completely, but the expression on his face melted into one with which she was much more familiar: love and adoration. He always seemed to look at her like he had found something he’d been looking for his entire life, like she had the answers to every question he’d ever had. Like he had finally found where he belonged.

She understood the feeling.

“I love you,” he said breathed out, the same way he had that night back in Whitestone.

“And I love you,” she replied without hesitation, without anything to follow.

Despite the doubt and fear that still lingered in his eyes, the smile that stretched across his face at her words was filled with joy, and she was sure that hers matched.

Keyleth held on to Vax all night as he slept, concentrating on the sound of his breathing, the feeling of it fanning out against her neck. She focused on his solid presence in her arms, the warmth of his body against hers, and the way his skin brushed against her own when he moved, shifting in his sleep, pulling her closer or brushing his hand against her back. She took comfort in all of it.

And she took comfort in him waking up the next morning, and the way his eyes met hers, completely clear once again, and his small, secret smile, always reserved just for her.

She knew that this wasn’t over. The Raven Queen wasn’t going to give up on the offer that Vax had made to save his sister. But Keyleth refused to just let go. She knew now that she couldn’t do anything about the pain of losing people she loved. But she could do something about this. She could hold on to Vax as hard as she could, make sure he remembered where he was, where he belonged, and never let him go. Not while she was living.

“I love you,” Vax said to her again as a strange, false morning light filled the room and, presumably, the rest of Scanlan’s magical mansion.

“I love you, too. I love you so much,” she responded, her unspoken promise wrapping around them, for the time being, keeping them safe.


	4. Knowing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “She wasn’t usually very good at reading people, but it took only an instant for her to know” from an anon. I changed “she/her” to “he/him”.

He wasn’t usually very good at reading people, but it only took an instant for him to know.

Over time, Kashaw had come to pride himself on his inability to understand people and normal social cues. It was a skill he knew he would never learn, so instead he embraced his lack of ability whole heartedly, almost treating it as though it was a talent in and of itself.

It seemed to be different with Keyleth, though. Maybe because she was so like him in that she, too, was bad at relating to people. She could read them well enough, but when it came to understanding other people’s emotions and acting accordingly, they seemed to be pretty similar in their skill level. The only difference was that Keyleth didn’t pride herself in her lack of skill, so she usually came off as far less rude than he ever did.

Whatever the reason, he found her far easier to read than anyone else he had ever met, perhaps with the exception of Zahra. It wasn’t like he had suddenly become some kind of master of reading emotions and cues, but there were things he just  _knew_  when he looked at her.

Like she and Vax being stupidly, annoyingly in love, for one.

* * *

 

The loud screeching from the bird flying overhead caused everyone in the camp to stir. Some sat up, looking to the sky, and some simply turned over, trying to ignore the noise.

Kashaw was among those who sat up, eyes turned to the night sky, watching as the bird circled overhead. “Fucking bird,” he muttered, recognizing it immediately as the big, annoying thing that had been flying around the outskirts of Vassleheim for past couple of months.

He was about ready to put his hands over his ears and lie back down, to try to grasp a few more hours of sleep, when he noticed Vax, his hand on Keyleth’s shoulder, shaking her gently.

His mouth turned down into a frown as he watched, wondering what was going on. A weird feeling of protectiveness came over him, which was really fucking strange, because it wasn’t like he thought Vax would ever hurt Keyleth. Perhaps the feeling was more along the lines of possessiveness, but again, he knew that he had absolutely no claim on her, so such a feeling would be pretty strange. But no matter how ridiculous the feeling was, he suddenly found himself really fighting the desire to walk over there and tell Vax to stop.

But as Keyleth’s eyes opened a lazy, sleepy smile stretched across her face as she looked up at Vax, who looked down at her with a similar expression. The gazed at each of for a long, silent moment before any words were exchange, and Kashaw could only barely hear what was whispered between them.

“Hey,” Vax said, keeping his voice low and pointing up at the sky. “Look.”

“What is it?” Keyleth asked, her voice groggy and confused.

“Look,” he said again. “It’s the Roc from Emon. The one that you saved.”

A look of wonder came over Keyleth as she sat up, close to Vax, to gaze up at the sky as the bird began to fly away from their view.

“He made it,” she said, her voice filled with awe. Kashaw wasn’t sure if it was the moonlight or unshed tears that made her eyes sparkle.

“You saved him,” Vax whispered to her.

“We all did.”

“No. That was all you.”

They both watched the roc until they could no longer see it, then turned at the same time to look at one another, their gazes soft and happy. Kashaw looked down and noted that at some point their hands had joined, their fingers laced together. Vax’s thumb swept back and forth over Keyleth’s knuckles lazily, a sense of familiarity and… something else, something bigger, seeping out of their shared gaze, their joined hands, and the heavy silence between them.

“I’ll take watch now,” he announced loudly, not wanting to see any more.

“Are you sure?” Vax asked, tearing his eyes away from Keyleth, but still not letting go of her hand.

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“All right,” Vax responded, moving only slightly away from Keyleth to find a place to sleep.

“I’ll join you!” Scanlan called out excitedly.

“Great,” Kashaw groaned. “This night just keeps getting better and better.”


End file.
